The American Statistical Association has announced that its Quality and Productivity Section has several sponsored sessions at this year’s Joint Statistical Meetings, August 2-7, 2025.
According to the announcement, this year’s session in Nashville, Tennessee, will be led by researchers from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, the University of Texas at San Antonio, Virginia Tech, and more.
The sessions will feature research on a wide range of topics, from accelerated life testing to autonomous driving analytics.
In 2022, the National Center for Education Statistics reported a notable increase in undergraduate and master’s degrees awarded in the newly established fields of data analytics and data science.
According to a recent report from the American Statistical Association, the number of bachelor’s degrees in data science surged to 897 in 2022, up from 165 in 2021 and 84 in 2020. For bachelor’s degrees in data analytics, the figures for 2020, 2021, and 2022 were 325, 455, and 767, respectively.
The report also noted that the number of universities offering bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in statistics and biostatistics generally increased from 2021 to 2022.
Some education experts suggest that while data science is an excellent career choice, the most successful data scientists possess a strong foundation in software engineering, can write efficient code, and understand how to design machine learning systems to address organizational challenges.
However, competitive talent is emerging not only from those with degrees but also from graduates who are agile in adapting to innovations as they learn and grow.
Other education observers say the future will always be great for those who focus on the mathematics and theoretical part, which requires specialized knowledge and a mathematical aptitude
In the spring of 2025, Towards Data Science published an article discussing how artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming the daily work of data scientists.
The article reviewed AI tools relevant to data science, including the OpenAI API, ChatGPT, GitHub Copilot, and others.
It examined how AI can enhance the roles of data interpreters and gatekeepers, allowing stakeholders to access data and answer questions easily and confidently, while also reducing the technical barriers to querying data through natural language.
The article emphasized that AI could help eliminate low-value tasks and assist with high-value ones.
More recently, a strategic data fellow at Harvard University and the director of data science at Accelerate, writing for The 74 Newsletter, raised concerns about who will monitor American student outcomes.
This commentary followed a report indicating that when schools ceased tracking outcomes in the past, progress stalled, and achievement gaps widened without notice.
Additionally, the National Center for Education Statistics, a national data provider, is being transitioned from the U.S. Department of Education to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Small Business Administration.
The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), which served as a critical evaluation of whether educational systems were effectively serving students from all backgrounds, has also canceled its test for 17-year-olds.
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